How Long Does It Take To Make Money Online?
Is It Possible To Make Money On The Internet?
I seem to get asked this a lot – either by skeptics or mostly by new budding online entrepreneurs keen to leave their jobs. It’s a fair question – I believe I asked it when I was starting out also.
So here’s my response:
Starting an online marketing career is starting a business! Every business, whether it be online or offline takes commitment, training and support – the difference here is that online business needn’t cost much and the rewards for the effort put in can be substantial.
Offline business can cost hundreds of thousands and way more hours of work to set up than I’m prepared to put in. If you go through the correct channels setting up online can cost you as little as $0 to start! Read on…
However, it is still a business – so should you get involved with a top performing program such as Wealthy Affiliate, you will get all the step by step training, tutorials, videos, webinars, community support you could need to make your business a success – in saying that it will take you time to learn, build sites and start promoting.
Begin Affiliate Marketing is where you’ll start out because you can start building a business with no money down and it can lead to very profitable websites. After you build the foundation to your online business, you can later add email marketing, advertising, selling physical products and services or sell reoccurring services or programs for residual income.
So if you are committed knowing the rewards will be there down the track – that’s the right attitude!
First you need to pick a Niche
Niche affiliate based websites can take a little bit to develop (maybe a month before you start getting traffic), but they really convert high for online sales.
Wealthy Affiliate will give you training on picking a niche you are interested in and will help you determine if it is a profitable niche where people are actually spending money.
Think of the last time you were looking to purchase something online. You probably did a Google search for your desired product. Then went on to research it and finally buy it.
This is where affiliate websites come in handy and earn their money!
So if you’re going to start an online business without a lot of overhead costs, affiliate marketing will get you going sooner rather than later (again your results will be a direct reflection of the effort you put in!)
Picking a niche can be fun, you get to think about all the things you would be happy getting out of bed and dealing with (wine, dogs, fishing, golf, hiking, quilting, DIY handyman…. The list is endless). Again, you do need to find out if they are profitable niches, so that’s where your training will come handy.
The site you are on now is about making money online through affiliate marketing. I have other niche sites based on my passion for dogs and other interests I have. On these sites I review products, put up really informative articles and posts and connect with my audience (who also like the things I’m offering). Should a visitor to my site click through one of the affiliate products on my site and purchase – I receive a commission! Viola… that is how YOU can do it too…
Once you are doing well, you can integrate email marketing and again you can learn all this through the course at Wealthy Affiliate.
Content for your site:
I really struggled with this at first, that’s why it’s important to start off with products/ services you enjoy as 1. You may have prior knowledge you could share or 2. You’re willing to find out and research to put together content.
Basically all you are doing is presenting knowledge and information to your audience.
Initially you really need to create the content for your site yourself as it is YOUR Business and YOUR audience. To connect with your audience you need to write for them. I have a great article on how to write great articles here also.
Seeing as I have a number of sites that I keep updated I do outsource some of my writing for a number of them – that way I’m free to do what I want and I get the rewards in the form of income from my sites without huge hours slaving over content.
I get most of my outsourcing through Fiverr – there are strategies to picking good outsourcers, so keep checking back here as I will put up some tips on this shortly (YES, I will write that content myself!)
You can also create videos as part of your marketing strategy – I do this a lot and have become very good at it – however I was not good in the beginning!
The thing here is to ‘Take Imperfect Action’ – if you never do anything because you don’t know how or you think it’s not ‘perfect’ you will never have an online business… you MUST take action and learn as you go.
So start by writing your own content so you learn about SEO and using keywords, you must learn how to run your business before you outsource!
Must Watch: How A 28-yr- Old Got Fired &Then Built A $500k-A-Month Business ⇒
Keyword Research
Keyword research was one of the things that stopped me in my tracks when I first started as I just didn’t understand it and certainly didn’t understand the importance of getting it right so you can rank in Google. Let me tell you – you MUST NOT let the fear of the unknown stop you! Check out my article on finding quality keywords.
Within Wealthy Affiliate you will learn all about keyword research, ranking, SEO and more – they have great tools at your disposal and lots of training – and you can always ASK if you have any questions.
This business is amazing – I love it – but it’s an ongoing lesson and I am constantly updating and educating myself… this must become part of your mindset also to make your business successful… but to learn the basics, really doesn’t take long!
Once you work your way through Wealthy Affiliates course you will be building sites, adding content, creating ads, pay per click and so much more – all culminating in an income for you!
How much will it cost?
You can join Wealthy Affiliate for free, however you will really benefit mostly from the premium membership – and really the investment is tiny compared to offline business and you can’t put a $$ amount on the learning and support you will receive.:
First month premium is $19, after that it’s $49/mo. – less than a cup of coffee a day!
If you go premium and pay yearly, it’s less than $30/mo.
Other expenses will be purchasing domain names ($9-12/year) and I pay for Jaaxy Keyword Tool which you will learn about in the course… all up my costs are approximately $3 a day to run one of my sites.
How long to see profits?
This really varies from person to person and the niche / products you select. If you choose a very focused niche, you can get traffic and start making sales within a month or two. If you constantly add new content and keep building on your site, it will grow over time of course and you will see the benefits.
Very generally speaking – again based on your niche and your effort:
Super Focused Niche: 1-2 months to start getting some income.
Larger Niche: Like Health, Wealth, or Dating – the 3 ‘evergreen’ niches – you will need to be prepared to work 2-5 months before seeing sales and 1 year before you make consistent income and maybe 2 years before you make a full time income.
The making money online niche is also highly competitive – so as high as the rewards can be it can take a long time to get traction.
There’s a Wealthy Affiliate member who is like 21 years old, on his 11th month, he made over $4,300/mo all in Amazon commissions and was on target to do the same the following month. You can read Colton’s Success Story Right Here.
Another guy I know started making regular income for 2 years, then his business grow to the point of making over 10K/mo. Some guys who have been in WA’s training center for years make over 50K and 100K/mo.
The Potential is Definitely There…
The main aim with affiliate marketing (and other online strategies) is to ultimately get to a place of residual income.
It will take time and commitment however. As mentioned earlier you can definitely make this a dream lifestyle within a few years – time just goes so quickly that you could stay where you are for a couple of years and be in the same position still – or you could move forward and make a start towards something better.
This can be part of your journey – but all journeys start somewhere – and are usually fun!
I hope this has helped you – I can’t give you the elusive figures you desperately want, because I don’t know all the variables, all I know is with the right teaching, your commitment, and the right support you can do what I am doing – and yes, it is very profitable and very fun!
P.S. Take a look at this video and and learn how to earn a full-time income from home.
